(NEXSTAR) – Brace yourselves, people with difficult-to-spell names: Starbucks baristas might be manually writing on the cups again.
The practice of writing a customer’s name or drink modifications on their Starbucks beverage with a marker — a normal part of the Starbucks experience before the pandemic — was mostly phased out in favor of adhesive printouts bearing any names or specifications.
Now, new Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol is looking to restart the tradition as a way to entice guests into the coffee shops. He also said Starbucks will be buying hundreds of thousands of Sharpie markers to give to employees.
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During a recent earnings call, Niccol briefly discussed the plan while responding to a question about the company’s efforts to revamp the café experience, with Niccol naming Sharpies as just one the “touches” that will hopefully drive more customers to the counter.
“One of the other things we’re going to be bringing back, too, is bringing the Sharpies back to our baristas and it’s going to give them the opportunity to put that additional human touch on every coffee experience as well,” Niccol said.
Speaking with CNBC, Niccol later estimated that Starbucks will need to purchase 200,000 Sharpies as part of the plan. He also indicated that baristas may use the markers to write “little notes on the cups” rather than customers’ names.
“It may not be everybody’s name … but we will definitely be getting back to writing on cups again here, in the not-too-distant future,” Niccol said.
A representative for Starbucks could not confirm whether the Sharpies would be used in conjunction with the newer adhesive printouts, or whether they could be replacing the printouts. In the earnings call, however, Niccol brought up the Sharpie idea after discussing plans to “separate” the in-store experience from the mobile-ordering experience, suggesting the Sharpies may be reserved for in-store guests.
The Starbucks spokesperson also could not say when the Sharpies might be re-implemented.
A little boy drinks a cup of Starbucks coffee. (Zhang Peng/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Nevertheless, Sharpie’s parent company Newell Brands was excited by the news.
“We are thrilled to hear that Starbucks will re-introduce hand-writing on cups, and are honored that they’ve chosen Sharpie to create special and personalized moments for consumers,” Kris Malkoski, a segment CEO for Newell Brands, wrote in a statement obtained by Nexstar. “At Sharpie, we are committed to empowering people to unleash their creativity, and we look forward to partnering with Starbucks to bring a human touch to their consumers’ experience.”
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In addition to writing on customers’ cups again, Niccol’s plans to revitalize the Starbucks brand include more “warm” and “welcoming” interiors, ceramic mugs for in-store guests, faster counter service and easier customization options for drinks.
“I think there’s a lot of just simple things that go a long way of saying, ‘You know what? This is a community place, this is a special place where people are here to connect,’” said Niccol, a man whose own surname might easily be misspelled by the strangers who make his coffee. “And I think we can do that in a really meaningful way.”
The Starbucks community has since responded to the Sharpie idea on social media, with many attempting to theorize how the operations at Starbucks would be affected by the change. Some self-identified employees also claimed their own shops still used markers — but they weren’t exactly thrilled about it.
“I use them every day at my licensed store,” one self-proclaimed Starbucks worker wrote. “It’s always fun trying to decode what a fellow barista has written. Endless fun.”
